WHOO HOO HOO!

So. I had the speech tournament, and it was pretty good.
I have to say, first of all, that I'm really hard on myself. I mean, really. I don't know why, but I am. The Round Robin for speech was torture, and that was just my club, not even an actual tournament, Needless to say, I was really worried.
My speech is called a POI (rhymes with boy) and that stands for Programmed Oral Interpretation. Basically you have to chose (at least) one piece of prose, poetry and script and weave them together in sections. So the beginning of the prose, then the poetry, then the script, then the middle of each, then the end of each. Or other ways, too, but that's how mine was. It's really fun, and you don't have to have it memorized. Which I can memorize stuff, but I'd rather not at this point. My pieces were The Unicorn in the Garden by James Thurber, Pirates of the Caribbean and Against Lying by Isaac Watts. Oh, yeah, they all have to have the same theme. Mine was lying. Or truth. Either way.
Another weird thing about me is that I get really nervous before something in front of people, but when I'm actually in front of them, I'm fine. Happy, even.
The tournament was fun! Imagine that! I knew a bunch of people (because they were in my club) and the people who I went up agianst were really nice. There was one guy who I was in the same round with twice, and we were talking before the rounds about a lot of stuff, and he told me after the final round that my POI was really good. And we all wished each other luck before and everything. There was a girl from my club who I had a feeling was going to do really well. She got first by every judge at the Round Robin, and she's really expressive, so I wasn't expecting to even place.
Another guy from a club was in three speeches and debate, and his team won the entire tournament for debate. He got a billion prizes. He was right before me all three rounds, so that was a hard act to follow.
The girl from my club and the winningest guy got first and second. We were all in the final round together, which I thought was just coincidence, but guess what! All the people in that room were going for first! I actually made it to the finals! I got my ballots back, and the ranks I got were all second place, except for two third places, one of which I would say was pretty harsh. I mean, I got 29 points, which is below average, and my average was 35 points. I was really happy that I was even considered. So I got either third or fourth, which is not bad for my first tournament.
And I'm also happy for another reason which I don't think I will disclose, because I said that I wouldn't talk about guys any longer. I think that's all I want to say.
Plus Tal is over here. I'm not with him because he's playing HeroScape with Edison and Monet and all of his brothers.

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...

SUPERPIG! DUH DUH DUH DUH DUH DUMMMMMM!
That dramatic beginning to an otherwise dullish post is to welcome a new member to our household. The member is actually a potbellied pig named Clover. Some friend's of Mom's brought it over today, and although Mom said that they were bringing a surprise, and she said that the surprise was of the lively sort, she did not say exactly what sort of alive thing it was. Is. But it's a pig. Who is living indoors. She's trained, I guess. We just take her out like a dog. And that's the new news of the day.
Old news (I think) would be that I have a speech tournament on Saturday. I think I've mentioned this before, but I might not have. Regardless, it is in existence, and I am going to it. And leaving, I discovered today, at 5:00 in the morning. Which is just great. I want to be all bright and chipper for my speech, but that doesn't seem to be happening. I guess there isn't really an alternative, though, because otherwise we'd have to stay in a hotel, and that's a little out of the price range, especially with gas prices being what they are (Which would be high, in case you're from some other planet and are reading this. In which case, Hello, friend. I am the leader of the world. If you want to have some kind of talk, I'm the girl to come to.) and us not having any extra cash lying around anyway.
We went to church again today. There was a potluck and I felt kind of guilty for being there, seeing as we've only gone there three weeks and all. But everyone told us to stay when we were on our way out the door. So we did. And the food was really good. We also went to Sunday School, which was nice. And their youth group thing is doing 30 hour famine, and they asked if Edison and I wanted to do it, and I said I didn't know. I mean, I'm not going to know anyone there, unless Emma does it. Which I don't know if she is or not. She was sick this morning. (Get well soon, Emma, even though you aren't reading this!) So I don't know. Edison wants to do it, but Edison has no problem with going up to random people and asking for sponsorships and stuff, so he probably wouldn't have a problem with going to something where he didn't know anyone. He's all groovy like that.
Oh, yeah. The man in charge of the Sunday School class was talking about self-image and stuff, and he was saying that some of the kids he knew in class were great, or something. I mean great about not being hard on themselves and stuff, and he turned to Edison and me and said "And even though I don't know you, I can see that you're both positive young people," and I think he was serious, which was sweet. And kind of funny. I mean, I almost started to laugh, but I didn't. Because out of all the people in the world who are hard on themselves, I'm pretty near the top of the list. And my self-confidence level? Yeah, if it were a car's gas gauge, I would open the door and the needle would fall out. Because I'm not very self-confident. It's kind of weird because Edison and I are completely opposite. I'm boring and careful, and he's exciting and always taking risks. I'm reserved around people I don't know, and he's just loud. I'm reliable and he's forgetful. I know comparisons are odious and all that jazz, and I'm not depressed and feeling sorry for myself right now. I'm just thinking. I'm pretty sure I'd rather be me than be him, but there are some things I wish I could do. One thing is that I wish I could take risks and make friends easily. I think I'm too afraid people are going to... I don't know. This is getting pretty off topic and also boring. And not funny at all, and I'm supposed to be entertaining to readers.
Um, I'm going to a birthday party on Tuesday, I guess. Mom just told me. I'm supposed to bring a guitar, but if anyone thinks that I am going to play it, they are dead wrong. I think the whole family is invited, so Edison at least will be there. I don't know about my parents. I guess that means we shoud get a present of some sort. Hm...
I can't really think of anything else. Oh! I had choir on Saturday. I had a good time talking with my friends who I hadn't seen since before Christmas. That was nice. We sang some Chinese songs, which was a blast from the past. Afterwards Dad took me to a guitar shop, and he let me try out a buncha guitars for fun. I played a 12 string, which was unbelievable. If I happened to have $1,200 to spare, I would so get one. I played Give a Little Bit on it. Fun. I also played a round one, which I forget what type it was. A couple other ones like Dad's except newer. Dad (I think) is going to get his set-up, so it'll sound better and the high e string won't jangle so much. Because I know it isn't my fault it's so twangy. Getting is set up means getting the frets ground down to all the same height, and stuff like that. It makes the guitar sound better if it hasn't been done for a while.
Wow. This is just a really long and boring post. So if you don't read the whole thing I do not blame you. It was pretty much me rambling on and on about my life and thoughts. But hey, that's kind of why I even have this blog!

Maybe you should drive...

So.
James Thurber is really funny. Any of y'alls should read something by James Thurber.
I saw Pride and Predjudice on Tuesday! It was awesome! Mr. Darcy looked so sad the whole time. It was really cool because he wasn't some teen hearthrob guy with only two different expressions *coughorlandobloomcough* he was just an actor. A pretty good actor. And he was so cool. I can't even tell what my favorite part was. I think it was when he ran into the room and just stood there, and Elizabeth was trying to talk to him, and then Mrs. Lucas came in, and Mr. Darcy ran out. It was great fun. The funniest thing was that I don't think they ever say Mr. Darcy's first name. He's just Mr. Darcy. Also, I like Kiera Knightly, but she always plays the same character, you know? I mean, she's been Elizabeth in two different movies, and they both acted a lot the same, although Lizzie Bennet was a lot wittier. And had better taste in men. I mean, Will Turner was kind of dumb. He was NOT buttery smooth. Jack Sparrow was way better.
Anyway, Mom and I went out on a date on Tuesday, and we watched P & P (which I read most of the book, but for some reason have never finished the unabridged version because I am a heathen even though I really want to finish it) and then went to the not so local Stuff*Mart because it takes almost an hour to get to the closest theatre. Which isn't so jolly. But it's a small theatre, and it's really nice and I love it dearly because we actually talk to the owner, because she works at the counter. So after we had bought stuff at Stuff*Mart, we were feeling like we didn't want to go home. But after seeing a movie and going to Stuff*Mart, what more can we do? So, believe it or not, we went to go see another movie. And got some really gross chicken tenders from the Lord of the Burgers. The one burger... TO RULE THEM ALL!
And we went to go see Cheaper by the Dozen 2, which was okay, but not as good as the old black and white ones. The bestest thing was that the theater was empty, and we talked during the entire thing, and a quote from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (one of the greatest movies ever) prompted me to stand up, point at the screen and shout "That's from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid!"

And no one complained.

On Wednesday nothing really happened. Oh, yeah. I worked on a radio drama I wrote. We recorded some of it, but we don't really have a good mic. Maybe I should ask for one for my birthday...

Thursday was a butt. I missed my classes so I could go on a field trip to a pie factory at Quaker Square. I used to love Quaker Square when I was little, but alas, they have taken all the cool stuff out, and I am left with a bunch of touristy shops and the bitter taste of old memories lost forever.
And then, to add insult to injury, we were supposed to "make our own pies" but we didn't, really. We rolled out somme pre-cut dough, stuck it in a pan, and the lady put filling in. Then we rolled out some more precut dough, and put it on top. Then we pinched the sides (if the lady didn't do it for us) and left to wash out hands. And then we waited for almost two hours. Fun. I kind of think that everyone was a little surprised about the little we actually got to do, but I could be wrong. Maybe it's just because I'm older, but rolling out some premade dough does not a pie make. ANd we didn't even get to see the ovens and stuff. I would have rather had a tour.

Anyway, we're having Family Fellowship at our house next Sunday after church (yay! I'm going to church again!) and I should be getting the house ready.

One of those days.

Saturday was pretty okay. Sunday was pretty not.
Actually that isn't true. Most of Saturday was okay. Sunday morning was ducky. It was about, oh, 1:30 when Sunday began to stink.
So, on Friday, Dad took me to a friend's house. I hung out with her, and spent the night. This friend used to be homeschooled, and is now going to a small private school. And it's like she's changed completely. She always was kind of gossipy, but now it's like she can't go an entire sentence without saying something nasty about some girl she goes to school with. At first it was fine; we watched Lord of the Rings together, I went to go see her cheer at a basketball game (she's a cheerleader) and we hung out. Saturday morning we went to a band practice (which was pretty boring, because I am not in the band, and so I just sat around for a while. Although not I can play guitar, I could figure out what chords the guys were playing, and that was pretty fun.) Then she came to my house and we went to a square dance with her friend from school. They talked to each other a lot, but they generally kept me in the conversation.
The dance was great fun. I'm not very accurate in my dancing (anyone can be accurate) but I dance with great feeling. There were hardly any guys (there never are at square dances, it seems) so I danced with Monet and Edison. My friend and her friend danced with each other a lot.
On the way home is when it started not being fun. My friend kept telling me that my face was really red. My face always gets red (deep pink would probably be more accurate) when I run around a lot or dance, and my face always gets hot. It's happened ever since I was little. Which I told her. But she just kept telling me how red my face was. I was getting irritated because I don't like to think about how I look all the time. Then the whole way home she was texting people with her cell phone, which is supposed to only be for emergencies, it's only a TrakFone. She was texting one girl about the girl who was with her. The girl she was texting didn't know that O. (her friend) was with her. So they started talking about how annoying H. was (the girl they were texting). This really bothered me,
a) because when she had been with H. she had talked about how annoying O. was, and
b) they didn't talk to me at all. Oh, yeah, except to say that they were going to "hook me up" with some guy they knew for the next square dance. Which I declined, because I have a feeling neither of them liked the guy they were talking about.
When we got back home, Mom said that we were going to church with my friend from the homeschool group. We went there last week, and I think we're going to go there eavery week, which is great because I liked it, and I miss going to church. My friend was with us last week when we went, and she hadn't liked it. She groaned quietly when my Mom said that we were going this week.
In bed, neither of them would go to sleep, and they kept me up. When they put on a CD my friend told me that I was way off in my singing. I don't like to sing in front of people I know anway, so this was really embarrassing. Almost every thing I said my friend and O. would tease me about. Then my friend said that if I went to her school, she would be on a higher "pace" (which is some kind of gradey-thing. I don't know how to explain it) than me, and she had better grammar than I did. She was saying stuff like that all night.
The next morning O. faked being sick so that she and my friend didn't have to go to church with me. I didn't really care, because at that point I was sick of them. Before I left, my friend had just enough time to tell me that if she had to live with me for a year, she would die.
I had a great time at church, though. Emma and Edison and I talked after church, and we had fun. When I got back it was time to go take O. and my friend home.
For the first part of the ride, O. and my friend gossiped about people from school. I stared out the window. I was sitting right next to them on the bench seat, but they ignored me. Then they took out O.'s Ipod and listened to music. I tried to comment that I liked that band, too, but they didn't pay any attention. Then my friend stopped listening to the music and I thought that maybe she would talk to me, but no. She took out her cell and played games. And then when she asked me what was wrong, I said nothing. I told her that I wasn't talking to her because she was playing with her cell phone.
"Oh. Yeah. I only took it out because I was bored."
Yeah. I'm sure you had a lot of time to be bored in between the Ipod and your cell phone. It was a total of two seconds.
Then, thankfully, Mom took us into Borders, and Dad drove the girls home. I read Get Fuzzy comics, and tried not to be angry and hurt. But I WAS angry and hurt. I felt about one inch tall, and there was nothing I could do about it.
I got home, and told Mom and Dad about what happened. They had noticed that I was really upset, of course, but they hadn't heard what my friend had been saying, or seen what she was doing. They told me that I didn't have to be friends with the girl if I didn't want to. She lives an hour away, and we could just say that it's too far to go.
I don't know if I want to continue this relationship. It wouldn't be so bad if it was just this once, but my friend does stuff like this (although not so much at one time) all the time. I know she puts me down because she has low self-esteem, but that doesn't make me feel any better. And I'm not exactly self-assured, either. I don't know if she knows what she's doing, but I can't see how she doesn't know. How can she not know that it's rude to tell people that you would die if you had to live with them?
At about 7:00 on Sunday night, my friend called. I think she got in trouble with her parents about O. Apparently O. was embarrassing her, and my friend got in trouble for not going to church with me. It seems that O. usually fakes being sick when she doesn't want to do something, and my friend should have known better than to tell me that O. was sick. She apologized for O's behavior. But she said nothing about her own. I forgave her for bringing O, and I guess I forgive her for everything that she did, but I don't know what to do about the whole affair.
As if that weren't bad enough, the guy that I like was supposed to come over to my house with his family for a get together thing with a few other people from the homeschool group, but the woman in charge switched families on us. So that stunk.
The only good thing that can make up for that at all is that Mom talked to Emma's mom, who was the one that the guy's family was going to, and since they were the only family going to Emma's house, they're all (Emma and the guy I like) coming to our house. Which is nice.
I think that maybe I should stick with my good friends, the friends that don't say hurtful things to me. I don't mind good natured teasing, but when someone tells me that they're smarter than I am, or act like they're better, that's not teasing. That's mean. And I don't have any other friends who do that. And I don't think that I want any friends who do that.
I'm in a thoughtful mood now. I need to think this relationship over.

From a while ago.

Okay, so while I was writing about China, one of our dogs died, and I was upset, of course. So I wrote this. I wasn't going to post it because it's kind of sad, and not very good, and more poetry like that what I usually post on this blog, but what the heck, I decided. I may as well do it. And I didn't realize until after I'd written it that it was in present tense, which I rarely write in. So tell me what you think, or just ignore it. Either way works.
Snoopy died today. We're burying her softly in the hard, brown earth. Kenny arrives with his yellow dragon to dig a hole in the soil. The sharp talons of the shovel make a sharp contrast to the evening sky.
Sweetheart cries.
It makes me feel awkward, her crying. Mom holds her, crooning nice words into her little ears. Sweetheart clutches for all she's worth. She cried once already. This does not matter to her. The backhoe stops, and all I can hear is a child's sobs and a bird in the silver maple.
Kenny is here because the ground is too hard for us to dig a decent grave (six feet under, six feet under, my mind drones) and he has the equipment. He can probably hear her sobs. He must; it's the only noise in the empty hill. He makes no sign, and I am still embarrassed. I am on the porch, holding Baby. She's feeling silly, and I blow absentmindedly on her white back. She gurgles delightedly and bops me on the head.
"Stop dat." I'm always amazed at how articulate her minute voice it. "I want down. I want Mama."
I hold her wiggling form. "You can't go down there. You'll get dirty. Mama's busy," I try to get her to be quiet. Toddlers don't understand tact. Baby ignores me.
"I said I want DOWN!" she yells. I cringe, but Sweetheart and Mom take no notice. She's still crying.
I am ashamed, I contemplate. I am ashamed because I'm not sad. I'm... I search for a good word. I'm detatched. That's it. No, I correct myself, I am sad. I just don't cry. I rarely cry, usually if I do it's tears of frustration and anger at myself. I feel empty at the moment. I imagine my tears floating to Sweetheart and feel a little better about myself.
I hear the bird sing a melancholy tune. Baby continues to squirm. I let her sit down on the bench. She sighs, and nestles close to me. I know she won't sit still for long, but it's pleasurable while it lasts. I watch Sweetheart pull back the blanket for one last look at our dog. She bursts into more sobs. I still feel only a little sad, from a distance.
Grass and loam cover our beagle. She was nice. She was pretty. She is no more. I remember something a friend once told me. "Don't have funerals for animals. You don't know what religion they are." This strikes me as sound advice, if ridiculous. I kick my foot against the bottom of the fence. I imagine if I looked into the mirror I would seem sad. That doesn't mean much. I can usually look any way I want. If I really wished, I could even make myself sad. If I did, I still wouldn't be crying for Snoopy. I'd be crying for God, or for people I'd hurt. This is false, but highly useful at times.
Baby is tired of sitting in one place. She toddles over to Mom, who is done holding Sweetheart because, sometime during my deep thinking the dog has been buried and Sweetheart has gotten control of her emotions. She is carrying some Hollyhocks the vet gave us. One is broken, but she hasn't noticed yet.
Edison hops over the fence, followed by the neighbor kid and his cousin. They are carrying sleeping bags. I was unaware that we were having guests.
"Snoopy died, did you know?" Sweetheart is over the dog's death for the most part. She states the expiration of our animal callously now.
Edison says "I know," shortly and tries to drag his friends inside.
"What?" CJ asks.
"Our dog. She's dead. She was the only girl dog." She brushes some of her golden hair out of her face. The cousin looks impassive.
"That's sad," CJ says. I can tell he's at a loss for words.
"Snoopy dead now," Baby says seriously, prancing about the porch in nothing but a diaper. This whole situation strikes me as rather mcab, especially since I can hear Dad commenting to Kenny that out other dog is buried under the same trees.
And a guinea pig, several rabbits, hamsters and a bird, I add in my mind. There are probably more, but I can't think of them at the moment. Edison shuffles his feet and clears his throat.
"Pop hit her wis our car." Baby is still speaking, but she has stopped skipping. She's looking up at CJ.
Yes, I think. We are a house of mourning. Begone. I roll my eyes inwardly. I am so weird. I end the awkwardness by offering to take CJ's stuff upstairs. He declines, and they all go in.
Kenny pulls out of our driveway. Sweetheart sits in the grass. Mom plants Hollyhocks. I start to head inside, but take one last look at the grave.
Snoopy chases kittens in Heaven, I add to myself hopefully. You never know.

This is a boring post. Feel free to ignore.

I actually should be doing Algebra right now. Which is probably why I'm doing my blog. Well, the real reason is that Mom said that I had to stay downstairs with the kids, and I couldn't do that downstairs.
So this post is being written as I am talking on the phone with Ash. She's watching Princess Bride. So neither of us are saying all that much. Hi, Ash!
URG! We just took a quiz about characters from Princess Bride, and she got Inigo, and I got Fezzik, then Luke Skywalker (her brother, and my evil nemesis) got Fezzik, too! But we only had one answer in common. So I guess it was a fluke.
I don't really have anything to say.
I had piano lessons today. I hadn't really practiced, though, so I wasn't very good.
I'm so boring.

PAR-TAY!

Yesterday was great fun. We went to a contra dance (for my city slicker readers, a contra dance is kind of like a square dance or a line dance), and Kat came. I think when I first told her where we were going she didn't think it was going to be very much fun. But then, after the first dance, she was having a great time. The only bad thing about these dances is that usually a bunch of girls come, and not very many guys do. And since Edison doesn't really like to dance with me, I usually end up with no partner. Or I end up being a guy. Not actually becoming a guy. I mean that I end up doing the guy part of the dance, which you'd think wouldn't be so confusing, but I still can't get my arms around my partner the way I'm supposed to. I automatically reach for the girl's shoulder, but she's reaching for mine, and it's just confusing. But that was the only problem. Well, I still don't know how to do a hay for four, but whatever. I have doubts about anyone knowing how to do a hay for four. Especially since sometimes the caller would say "hey hey hey!" or "hay for hay" or "you know what to do!" instead of just calling it, which was slightly confusing.
I think I've decided that the main reason why I would want a boyfriend is so I would always have a partner. A partner who I know. Because it's a lot more fun to have your actual partner be someone who you've at least hung out with before than to have a guy you don't know ask you to dance. That's probably just me, though.
The cast party on Friday was great fun. It's so funny, because I used to dread homeschool group stuff because I didn't think anyone would remember me/want to talk to me, but I don't really have a problem with that anymore. It's kind of ironic; I went to a church thing with one of my friends (it was with her youth group) and no one except for the people she introduced me to even looked my way, but at the first meeting of the homeschool group, a couple of girls who I didn't even know asked me if I wanted to play capture the flag with them. Which of those two sound more like "social misfits?"
Anyway, it was really fun to see the play that I was in. Except for noticing everthing that I should have done better. I guess I'll know for next year, though. I think I was loud enough, but I didn't look directly at the audience enough. It's really hard to tell, though! I wish they would have filmed us in practice so we could have seen what we were doing wrong before the performance.
We played Round Robin Ping Pong, which I am so horribly awful at, but so were a few of my friends (including on boy who seemed intent on taking people's heads off with his ping pong ball). A few of us played Xtreme Spoons, which is just like Spoons, except you put the spoons on the other end of the room and you have to race to get to them. Lyn (one of my new-found friends) and I volunteered to go into another room so they could set up a game for us, which turned out to be a kid's head under a towel.
I mean, there were towels over things, and we were supposed to say the name of it really quickly, and under one of the towels was a kid's head, sticking up through the crack in the table. And he yelled. Mom said I screamed, but I'm not really the screaming kind of person. I laughed, but my laugh is kind of weird, so that might have been what she heard.
We also went to church this morning with Kay, who's from the homeschool group. It was fun, and I didn't feel all out of place. Well, I did, but church does that to me, for some reason. I feel conspicuous when I go to church. I like it, but I feel weird sometimes. I guess I'm a heathen.

Ahhh.

It's good to be back. There's so much that I've done since my last regular post, so I'm not going to describe. I'll just list what I've done.
Took the written test for driving and got 100%,
was in two plays,
a billion concerts,
went paintballing,
choir retreat,
holidays,
saw Chronicles of Narnia and loved it,
went to great-grandmother's funeral,
joined homeschool group,
made new friends,
am taking Algebra, Biology and Philosophy through the group,
am learning how to play guitar and piano,
got a 94% on my Algebra test,
don't even remember what else.
So. Now that you've been through my life (pretty much) in the last 6 months, I can FINALLY stop telling stuff that I've done in the past.
Tonight I'm going to the cast party for my play. It was called The Man Who Had It Made, and I was the Wife. Margie. It was a pretty big part, and I didn't mess up too badly. So I'm all excited about that and actually should be getting ready at the moment since Mom said that I needed to be ready by 5:30. And it's 4:42. But I did already take a shower and dry my hair, and that was good, since I rarely dry my hair anyway.
Although this makes me sound fickle, you have to remember that I haven't written a regular post in a while, so it was gradual. I'm not totally in love with TU anymore. And I don't think I'm going to write about the guy that I do like because it makes me sound like an airhead, and probably no one cares about that very much anyway.
Besides, he might read it.
I got a bunch of really cool books for Christmas. Three by Terry Pratchett, who is awsome. A ton by James Thurber, who is almost better. Partially because he was from Ohio. And Ash has my cool fairy book because I left at her house over New Year's Eve. But she said that it's helpful, so I'm not too upset.
I really don't have anything to say. I just wanted to write, I guess.
In conclusion, Captain Jack is Back!
July 7th.

DAY NINE/TEN:

(Yeah, it's not like I started this nearly six months ago or anything. I'm not lazy. And this is two days in one partially because it's the last two days, to the airplane flight is going to be figuring into this a lot, and partially because I need to finish this before people stop ever even checking my blog. Which they probably already have.)
I think I'll just skip breakfast because I think I was asleep for most of it. Not physically asleep, but my brain was not functioning. It didn't really matter that much since I was only sitting with Ash, Lena and Ann, and I was taking advantage of every opportunity avaliable to me. For sleeping. Sleeping opportunities are what I'm talking about.
The garden we visited was pretty, but it was much the same as a lot of other gardens. Except for the peeing incident, which I'm fairly certain was in this garden. And if it was some other garden and I'm telling the same story again, oh well. I checked, but I couldn't find it, so I don't think I wrote it.
Anyway, we were walking through this beautiful garden, and looking at the fish in the pond. (The pond was called the pond of the happy fish, I think. Or maybe I just read about that. No matter.) All the sudden we hear this sound. I was walking with Kris and Meg. We turned around and stared. This was this little asian kid stading up on one of the benched in the pavilion and peeing into the pond. The funniest thing was that he was grinning widely. I mean, he was grinning like there was no tomorrow. And after we'd finished staring, we all started laughing. I mean, it was absurd. This ten or so year old kid peeing into the pond, and grinning like the Cheshire cat. Then the kid's mom, distracted from her conversation with some other adult-type person by out laughing, turned around and saw her child, and what he was doing. So she did what any sane mother would do. She cuffed him on the back of the head and pulled his pants up. She then made him sit, and berated him soundly. That's what it sounded like, at least. I don't speak Chinese. She could have been saying "Good job, my boy. I told you to feed those fish!" Or something.
Another cool thing was a rock. I was big, and there were all these little tunnels in it. The guide told us that if you thought or said something and tried to stick your arms through, you would find out if you were lying or not. If your fingers couldn't touch from the holes in either side, you were a liar, and no more cookies for you. If you could, then everybody just had to believe you.
Needless to say, everyone in the choir decided that it was most imperitive to see if they were liars. I did anyway, even though I know when I'm lying or not. So does everyone else around, because I'm the most horrible liar ever.
So I waited my turn, and finally I got the chance to stick my arms in the holes. It was pretty tight. I was thinking something along the lines of "There are a million dollars in my pocket." My hands touched after a little pop, and I worried that I wouldn't be able to enjoy the money that was apparently residing in my pocket because my hands were permenantly lodged in a large rock. This moment of panic subsided after I pulled them out, and checked my pocket.
Stupid thieves. The money was all gone.
I wasn't too upset, though, since I hadn't known about the million dollars before I put my hand it the rock.
After a brief haggle with the salesperson (we was guarding the exit gate, I guess) over some bottles of orange juice, we left the garden. And then we went shopping.
Ash, Kris, Ann and I all went together. Camp tagged along for a little bit, but then joined some other group. We stopped in a few of the shops, and Ash haggled for Kris over a dress which she procured at a relatively low price, and then we wandered some more. There was some sort of perl exhibition going on, and there were signs and people talking about it everywhere. We were stopped by a young woman who asked us if we wanted to see it. We said we would have liked to, but we had to get back to our group.
"How long do you have?" she asked with only a small accent.
"Um," Ash looked at her watch. "Five minutes."
The woman made a wry face. "Not long enough. Maybe next time." She smiled, and we all laughed, knowing that we probably weren't going to visit China again. "So are you here with school?" she asked us.
"No, we're in a choir," I explained. She asked us a few questions about that.
"How is my English? I like to practice when I can."
"It's very good!" we all assured her. A little later she commented that we were all wearing pink, including her. After a little more chit-chat we told her that we had to leave, and that it was nice to talk to her. We waved, and so did she. It was really nice.
We all met at Starbucks, and I wanted a frappichino. But luck and the Starbucks menu was against me. I had no idea that there was a difference between an iced coffee and the other coffee confection, but alas, there was. The iced coffee wasn't bad, though, so I drank it anyway.
The restaurant was interesting. The food was good, of course, but the store underneath was a little weird. The electricity went off, but they still ran the store with no lights. Maybe they were hoping that people would break something and have to buy it. I didn't break anything, at any rate. Just when we were about to leave the lights came back on. It was odd. I think someone made a mistake reguarding the electricity because a man in a red vest who looked rather official was speaking loudly and sternly to a man in a red vest who didn't look very official.
The temple of the Jade Buddha was much like the other temples we'd visited, except there wasn't as much smoke because a lot of it was inside. And there was one room that was amazing. It was all red and gold, and an enormous golden Buddha sat in the middle, with a bunch of little golden men climbing over him. I'm not entirely sure what they meant because I was too far from the guide to hear, but it was pretty impressive. In little alcove surroundng the giant Buddha were little golden versions, which made the light bounce around interestingly.
There was also a standing Jade Buddha that we weren't allowed to take pictures of. The sitting one we could. So we did.
The final concert was sad. We were doing it with a Chinese woman's choir and the Red Rose choir. Plus a children's choir. The children's choir consisted of a bunch of little kids who were the children on the women in the choir. There wasn't much of a dress code for them. They were all wearing their prettiest dresses and suits. One little girl looked like she was wearing the Belle dress from Beauty and the Beast. They sang one of the songs we were singing!
We'd heard Red Rose before, and they were pretty good.
Dr. Jay called us all up to sing Hua Fei Hua. I think this was a spur of the moment thing. Mostly because everyone looked surprised and he kind of messed up. We sang the song three times, I think. The verse, I mean. But it was fine, and the little kids were cute.
So, after the concert all the seniors were crying because it was their last concert, and then they were graduating from the choir forever. Ash, in case I didn't already say, was a senior. So she was crying, and all the senior's friend's were crying and hugging each other, and I was just standing there. Because I don't really cry. I didn't even cry during Old Yeller. I was sad, but I didn't even really get teary eyed. For Old Yeller, I mean.
I guess I shouldn't say that I don't cry. I do. But it's pretty hard to get me to, and once I pop the fun don't stop. Or the crying.
So I was standing there and I was kind of sad but I don't think the idea that Ash wasn't going to be in choir anymore had really hit me. And I was also sad because the next day we were leaving. But I just hugged Ash and Kris (who was crying and she hadn't even KNOWN Ash for that long) and everybody else, even Camp which was kind of weird but permissible what with emotion running so high and all. And then everybody had pretty much calmed down, but was still teary eyes, and then, for some weird reason, I started sobbing. I don't know why, I was just in the dressing room getting my regular clothes on, and the waterworks started. Kris was still crying, and Ash kind of was. Ann and Meg and a couple of other people were there, and they were like "What's wrong, Bard," and I couldn't even talk I was crying so much. And I was sad, but I wasn't entirely sure why I was so sad all of the sudden. So everybody hugged me (which actually made me cry more). It didn't help that we were pretty much the last people out, and here I am, being supported by three or four people, crying my eyes out, and the stage crew started asking Ash and Ann questions in broken English. "She's sad because we're leaving," Ash tried to explain. She said some other stuff first, but they didn't understand her. And then I think I saw TU, which was pretty bad because I looked awful on account of my make up running (But not my mascara, which was waterproof and I practically have to pull my eyelashes out to get it off. I only have to put it on once a month.) and my eyes and nose being red. The worst thing was that I couldn't stop! I wasn't sad anymore, but if anyone talked to me, I started up again. Camp tried to make me feel better, but eventually figured out that it was only making me feel worse.
Mrs. Jay had a surprise for us when we got back to the hotel. We met on the 12th floor, and sat down. After a long and touching speech (which I didn't cry for because I was finally done by then) she revealed the bonus prize-PIZZA! Good ole American Pizza Hut.
Okay. Good ole Chinese American Pizza Hut. There wasn't a difference.
We chowed majorly. Jewel and Ann informed me that I looked like a racoon or a druggie. Actually, Jewel said I looked like a racoon. Ann said it was more like a druggie. (Note to Jewel and Ann: Thanks an awful lot for that.)
Then came the saga of room 1231 (cue spooky music).
So, Fred, who I had never really spoken with before now, was wandering up and down the hall of the 12th floor. As Ann and I were stationed on the 12th floor, and we was wandering around our room, and as the curfew for that night had been extended to 12 o'clock and it was only 10, we ventured out. I don't remember all who were involvled with this, so I may mention random people. There was something like 15 of us at one point, although it ended with Ann, Fred and I. And Fred's sister.
"So, Fred. What's up? Why are you wandering around the hallways?" I ventured. Fred looked pretty perturbed. He was holding his head.
"I can't find my parents," he moaned. "I've been looking for 15 minutes and I can't find them!" Ann and I looked at each other.
"Well, what's their room number?" Ann asked cautiously. It was clear to both of us that we were dealing with a maniac.
"My sister said it was room 1231." At the mention of the room number, a bolt of lightning was seen through the window, and we heard an evil laugh.
Okay. That's not true. But it would have been pretty darn cool if it was.
Anyway, we went down the hallway labeled "<-Rooms 1206-1233". We figured, although Fred said he's already checked there, that his parent's room was that way.
"Okay," Ann said as we passed room 1224, "It should be on the left." We watched the left side of the hallway. 1225, 1227, 1229, 1233, end of halllway. "What?" Ann protested. "It should be there!" Another check, same answer. So we checked the right side. At this point Meg joined us.
"What'cha doin'?" she asked.
'Looking for room 1231." Fred said with a trace of doom in his voice. "It's not here." Indeed, the other side of the hallway had proven unfruitful as well. Meg looked, and said that maybe it was in another hallway for some reason. So we looked. We searched the ENTIRE FLOOR. No such room. People came and went, and Camp seemed to think that we were dumb until he looked and couldn't find the room either. Then we went back to playing euchre.
After a long time of searching, and several theories about Fred's parents (they never actually came to China with us, they'd been sucked into a weird vortex, Reynold they wizard had taken them captive, Fred was a clone (which led to him exlaiming "I was hatched!"), ghosts had taken them, etc) I had the brilliant idea of calling room 1231 and asking Fred's parents where they were. So we (which was now just Ann, Fred and I) ran back to my room and called. A recording of a polite chinese woman informed me, first in chinese then in English, that there was no such room. I called again. Same thing. Fred began to moan.
"You must have the wrong hotel room," Ann said sensibly.
"My sister said room 1231!"
"Then she must have said the wrong one. What room is she in?"
"1228," he said. We called. I still don't know why, but we got a message saying that there was no such room. I gravely related the message to Fred, who clutched his head. "They've got my sister, too!"
He tried to run out of the room, but we restrained him. We searched for the room again, went up the stairs to see if maybe 1231 was on the next floor, only to be mildly shocked to see that there was no 13th floor. I thought that was just a joke, but I guess not. After over a half an hour of searching, Fred took off running. He'd seen his parents, who were actually in room 1208. I think he may have kicked his sister. He then invited us to play a board game with him. That was the reason he was looking for his dad. His dad had the board game.
On a side note, his dad looked a lot like the dad from Lizzie McGuire. I've only seen that show once, but it was enough. Oh, and Kat made me watch the movie.
So after a strange expirience in Fred's room (it was a huge mess because of his roommate he said, and I didn't really understand the board game, among other things) we went to bed. Then I got a call from Lena saying she was scared because Ash was out with the choir managers and the other seniors doing a senior thing. So I went up to her room, and Ann fell asleep. And Meg's dad came to check on us, and I asked if I could stay until Ash came back, and he said sure. That ended up not being until really late. So we watched movies. In Chinese.
I slept like a rock. A very dumb rock.
Ann and Kris are insane. I think I should mention this before I go on.
So there I was, sleeping, and all the sudden, Ann's rushing around, saying "Kris just called! It's 9:00! We were supposed to go swimming at 7!" I rolled over. We had made plans with Kris the night before, when I hadn't thought I would be so tired.
"I'm sleeping," I said through my blanket.
"Fine." Ann left. I woke up a few hours later. I looked at the clock. 7:30.
Yeah. Okay. Wake up-What? I looked again. 7:31. Um, hadn't Ann told me that- wait, there's Ann. Asleep. I shook her awake.
"I thought you said-"
"Kris is so weird. She had her clock set wrong, and it was actually 5:00. Then she said she didn't really want to go swimming anyway."
"Didn't either of you think to look at another clock?"
"Yeah. When the pool was closed."
I rolled my eyes and went in the bathroom to change my clothes.
We said goodbye to the people who were leaving on the early plane. They were just finishing breakfast. Fred was one of them. We said bye, and then ate. And then waited for it to be 12:00. We watched T.V. Some people went swimming. I went shopping in the gift shop. We rode up and down the elevators. Then it was time to go.
On the plane, Ash and I were going to sit together. We had done so on the way over, and were going to do so again. Kris was behind me, Ann was on the other side of me. Then one of the girls wanted to do some complex switching, and Lena wanted to sit with Ash. I said "No problem. I sat with you on the way here." I could tell she was relieved because she didn't want to hurt either of our feelings. I was disappointed, but was ready to have fun with Ash and Kris.
God rewarded me for my unselfishness. Guess, just try and guess who I sat next to.
TU. Oh, yeah. I was sitting next to him, and Ann and Kris, who both knew that I liked him, gave me a thumbs up when he wasn't looking.
And he actually flirted with me. Most of the time we were either sleeping or watching the little on flight movies (I was watching Hitch and then Monk, he watched Kim Possible and some other cartoons) but then towards the end, we were both awake. I forget why, but one of us hit the other with a pillow, and then we had a pillow fight, and then I started telling him how, if I had a helmet like Darth Vader, he wouldn't dare hit me. Which he said didn't matter, and that the helmet didn't even do anything.
"Yes it does," I asserted. "It helps him breath."
"No. That's mostly the suit as a whole. The mask is just there."
"Not true. It also hides his face because his face is creepy looking."
He considered this. "I guess you could use it then."
I did what any sane girl would do. I smacked him with the pillow.
Even the experience of sitting next to TU for 14 hours could not top the joy of seeing my homeland again. I almost started to cry when we touched down. I couldn't get off the plane and into the arms of my family quickly enough. I hugged everybody, and almost started bawling again.
I was finally back home.
And that, my friends, is the end of the story. (And the end of the album.)